State Rep. Craig Redmon (R-Canton), who chairs the Missouri House Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources, tells Missourinet the Department will bring a sample of an investigation pack involving pesticide complaints to a hearing Wednesday.

“There’s a lot entailed to these investigation incidents, and I just think it would be very helpful for the committee to actually physically see one of those,” Redmon says.

MDA has eight investigators working on the pesticide complaints, which have come from five southeast Missouri counties and northwest Missouri’s Carroll County. The complaints allege damage to soybeans, peaches, watermelons, tomatoes, cotton and some alfalfa.

Redmon’s committee Wednesday will also discuss Missouri’s park system, which includes 88 state parks and historic sites and more than 1,000 miles of trail. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will testify before Redmon’s committee.

“I want to stay on this deferred maintenance budget and see how we’re getting along with that, because again, I know we need new state parks and we need different things to do, but first of all in my book we need to be able to afford the ones we have and take care of them sufficiently,” Redmon says.

Missouri’s state park system also includes the 240-mile Katy Trail State Park. DNR says 18 million people visit the state park system annually.

Redmon’s committee is also expected to discuss the Missouri Department of Agriculture’s plan to study how much money would be generated if the agency buys more property near the State Fairgrounds, for additional RV parking. Redmon and other House members requested the study, after hearing testimony that 1,200 spaces at the RV parks were “maxed out” during this year’s State Fair in Sedalia.

State Rep. Jay Houghton (R-Martinsburg) attended this year’s fair and says there was a seven-hour wait to get into the 60-acre public campground.